CoS Theories

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 47189

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., GulPlum <hpfgu at p...> wrote:
> At 22:29 25/11/02 -0500, Indigo wrote, in reply to my musings about
casting an adult actor to play Tom Riddle:

> INDIGO:
> > I don't think so.  It's normal Hollywood convention for casting
> > people to >pick older actors to play younger parts. The 90210 
> > kids were portrayed by adults.
-end-

> GulPlum:
> 
> The analogy is facile and specious. All of the Hogwarts pupils are
> played by actors within a couple of years of their characters' ages 
> (and believably so). On the face of it, there is absolutely no 
> reason for the production team to depart from that policy.
> 
> As I said previously, there are only two exceptions to that policy:
> Moaning Myrtle and Tom Riddle. We already know why Myrtle had to be 
> played by someone unlikely to change over the next couple of years 
> (she should be appearing in GoF in 2-3 years), so why Tom Riddle? 
> Especially when he is *so* obviously not 16?
> 
> ...edited large section...
>GulPlum

bboy_mn:

I think the choice was based on very practical matters. They could
spend months searching for kids to play the part, and risk not finding
one. Then having to deal with someone with little or no experience.
They needed an actor that had similar features and appearence to
Harry/Daniel which complicated the search. Or, they could go with a
good looking dark haired seasoned actor who was youthful in
appearance, and was available immediately and able to dramatically
play a crucial role.

As far as how he looked, let's keep in mind that kids at this age have
an extreme range of appearances, that usually all even out by
adulthood. You have 16 year old short skinny very boyish students, and
you have big tall beefy 16 year old football players, then you have
very tall skinny basketball players. In the middle, muscular average
height gynasts, swimmers, and wrestlers. The range of body types at
any give age in the range 12 to 18 is extreme, and saying any one
person doesn't fit the model of a 16 year old is a difficult thing to
do with any accuracy.

So, in short, I think they were forced by circumstances, primarily
schedule, to go with someone like Christian Coulson. By the way, I
thought he did a fine job.

Just a few thought.

bboy_mn